Endless Longing
by Jessie6
Summary: Gimli comes to Minas Tirith to see Aragorn one last time. (Very bad summary) Please REVIEW


Authors Note: Please don't flame me because of a few grammar mistakes because I'm German. Of course you can tell me what  
I have done wrong and I will correct it.  
  
That's NO slash!!!  
  
This happens long after 'Return of the King'.  
  
It's Gimli's Point of View!  
  
(If you want to read the story from Legolas' POV you have to REVIEW!!!)  
  
Disclaimer: The characters all belong to Tolkien.  
  
Endless Longing  
  
After I had travelled with Legolas he went back to Mirkwood and I returned to my own kind. Everyone respected me there  
but none of them could understand that my best friend was an Elf. Every day that passed I missed him more.  
When we had first met I would never have guessed that one day I would actually like him. But during the long journey I had  
I had begun to like him. His beautiful songs had brought some light in the darkest nights and his sensitive character had  
made it easier for all of us. It had been in Lothlòrien when I found out that he also liked me.   
Since that day we had been friends.  
And now I had to admit to myself that I missed him. Life was somehow sad without his merry laughter.  
Even though he had changed since he had heared the cry of the gulls. He had been more restless and sometimes he had seemed  
even sad. But nontheless I would never have wanted to lose him as a friend.   
Suddenly another dwarf entered my room. "Gimli, there's a letter for you."  
"Who is it from?" I asked.   
"I don't know. But it's from Gondor."  
I thanked him and read the letter.  
  
Dear Gimli!  
  
I'm sorry that we haven't seen each other for so long but I hope you will still come.  
It's very hard for me to write that but my dear husband, King Elessar, is dying. He has lived many years but now he's  
old.  
He wishes so much to see his friends again and I really hope that you will fulfill his last wish.  
Please hurry, Gimli, for there's not much time left.  
  
Arwen  
  
Slowly I sat down on the chair behind me.  
So Aragorn was dying. It was a shock for me. I hadn't seen him for years and it was hard for me to know that it was  
possible that I would never see him again. I remembered him as the proud and strong person and couldn't imagine him as  
as an old man.  
Nevertheless I would try to fulfill his last wish.   
I would go to Gondor.  
  
After a few weeks I arrived in Minas Tirith.   
The Withe City was very quiet. They all knew that their beloved king would leave them soon.  
Or had he already gone?  
A dwarf is not one of the fastest creature in Middle-Earth and maybe Aragorn was already dead.  
So I went to a young woman. "Excuse me?"  
"Yes?"  
"I have an important question to you. A few weeks ago I received a letter from your queen in which she told me that her  
husband was very ill. How is he now?"  
The dark eyes before me suddenly filled with tears and that look alone would have been enough to make me realize the   
terrible truth.  
"He's dead, Master Dwarf." She said in a soft voice. "He died yesterday."  
Yesterday!  
Only one day!  
I felt tears forming in my eyes.  
Why could I not have been a little faster?  
I nodded to the woman for I didn't trust my voice anymore and a dwarf doesn't show his weakness in front others.  
Slowly I walked towards the palast where Lady Arwen would be waiting.   
And not Arwen alone.  
Surely Legolas had also received a letter for he had known Aragorn much longer than I.   
And I was absolutely sure that he hadn't been too late for he was a fast rider.  
  
The guards brought me to their queen and Arwen welcomed me warmly. But I could tell by her eyes that she had probably  
been crying the whole night long.  
"I'm sorry, Gimli, but you are too late." She said in a very soft voice.  
"I know." I whispered hoarsely. "A woman in Minas Tirith told me. I am so truly sorry, Arwen."  
She only nodded and tried to fight back the tears.  
Suddenly I heared a soft voice behind me. "Hello, mellonanin"   
I turned around and saw him. His golden hair fell lightly over his shoulders and his soft lips formed a sad smile.  
I returned the smile and walked towards him. "Hello, my friend." And then we embraced for a few very long minutes.  
"It's been very long." He said quietly.  
"Indeed." I answered. "Too long."  
  
The next day Aragorn was burned and for the very first time in my life I cried in front of others. As I saw him lying  
there with his sword Andurin on his chest, as I saw the flames consuming his once so strong body I just couldn't hold back  
my tears anymore.  
But I was not the only one. Eldarion, Aragorn's and Arwen's son, had to support his mother while daughters stood next to  
her with tears running down their faces.  
Suddenly I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I didn't have to look up to know it was Legolas and without looking at him I  
knew that he was crying, too.  
  
In the evening we sat together. Arwen, Legolas and I. Neither of us said a word, everyone thought of the past.  
Of a proud young king who always had been a good and fair ruler, who had been loved and respected by all his people and  
friends.  
  
The next day as we sat on the breakfast only Arwen's and Elessar's daughters and their son Eldarion, the new king, joined  
us.  
"Where's your mother?" Legolas asked after a few minutes.  
The women had tears in their eyes as Eldarion answered, his voice sad and heavy. "She makes herself ready for her journey  
to Lothlòrien. She wants ... she wants to stay there for the rest of her life."  
We were shocked for we knew what that meant. She would die there because of a broken heart for she had lost her one and  
only love.  
When she joined us we saw the light in her eyes was gone and for the first time she seemed so ... old.  
After the breakfast we bid our farewell to the former queen of Gondor and then she shared one last hour with her children.  
The last time we saw her was on the back of Elessar's white stallion as she rode towards Lòrien.  
  
"What are you going to do now?" I asked as Legolas and I walked through the beauiful garden.  
"I don't know."   
A sudden idea filled my mind. "We could travel together again, at least for a while." I feared that he didn't want it  
anymore for he had been amongst his people the last few years and maybe he didn't want to travel with a dwarf any longer.  
But to my surprise he smiled. "I would like that very much."  
  
One day before we wanted to leave Gondor Legolas went out in the morning. "I will be back late." He said. "But before the  
night." His behavior was very strange and his mind seemed somehow far away.  
I nodded but secretly I followed him. He didn't ride too fast and so it was no problem at all.   
Even for me.  
He rode for hours and I was very glad when he finally stopped.  
To my surprise we were at the river Anduin and he looked over the water. He was still for nearly half an hour and then he  
turned around.  
I was shocked when I saw tears running down his face.  
"I'm sorry, Gimli."  
I gasped and he smiled sadly. "Do you think I have not realized that you followed me?"  
"What are you sorry about?" I asked, trying to change the subject.   
Again he turned to Anduin and looked over the water.  
For a few minutes he didn't say anything. I grew slightly nervous.  
What was in his mind?  
A few gulls flew over our heads and I finally realized that Legolas had been watching them all the time.  
Galadriel's words came back to my mind:  
  
"Legolas Greenleaf long under tree  
In joy hast thou lived. Beware of the sea!   
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore  
Thy heart shall rest in the forest no more."  
  
I had nearly forgotton this warning.  
Why did it come back to me now?  
Suddenly my Elven friend began to speak again. "I'm sorry because I cannot go with you."  
I was terribly confused. "What do you mean? We wanted to leave tomorrow."  
"I know." He said in a very soft voice, probably to keep himself from crying anymore.  
"But why don't you want to come with me now?" I was more than hurt. "Tell me if you don't seek the company of a dwarf  
anymore."  
Legolas turned around and looked at me in shock. "Never say such a thing, Gimli. I would love it to travel through  
Middle-Earth with you once more. But I will not even see Mirkwood again."  
I frowned. "What do you mean?"  
But I think in my heart I knew. I denied it, I didn't want to think about it. Not even two weeks ago I had lost a friend,  
I was not ready to lose another.  
It began to rain a little but I didn't really realize it.  
All that mattered now was Legolas.  
"I will leave Middle-Earth, Gimli, I have no choice."  
I had known it. Yes, he would leave and I would never see him again. Now I would lose another friend and there was nothing  
I could do against it.  
"Can't you stay just a little bit longer?" I asked hopelessly. His answer was already clear to me, I knew what he would  
say.  
"No, Gimli. You sat behind me on Arod when I first heared the cry of the gulls, didn't you?"  
Yes, I had sat behind him on his horse and I remembered the change in him all too well.  
He sighed and suddenly his voice sounded desperate. "I can't wait any longer, Gimli. I have to leave or my heart will soon  
break."   
I knew it was true. And I would reather let him go than see him die because of a broken heart.   
"It's alright, my friend." I said and it had never been so hard to speak.  
"Thank you, mellonanin." He whispered, his blue eyes shining with tears again.  
"Would you at least let me help you build your ship?" I asked. "When you do it all on your own it will surely sink sooner  
or later."  
He laughed quietly. "You are right, Gimli." With the next words his voice broke. "What would I do without you?"  
  
About three weeks later.  
Legolas would leave today.  
He had told me so.   
We had finished building the ship two days ago and now it was time.   
Of course I had known that this moment would come ever since our talk three weeks ago but now that it was here it was   
very hard.  
"What would I do without you?" He had asked.   
But what would I do without him?  
As he walked towards me I thought he came to say farewell. But his question shocked me. "Do you want to come with me?"  
I stared at him as if he had gone mad.   
A dwarf in Valinor?  
Was that even possible?  
No, surely not. The Elves wouldn't accept me there.  
"Did you ever think about the other Elves there?"  
"Gimli, you know that Lady Galadriel likes you very much. And Elrond and Mithrandir would help you, too. There's nothing  
to worry about. Accept ..."  
"Accept what?"  
"Accept you do't want to leave Middle-Earth. I would understand that, really. You would be immortal in Valinor. Maybe you  
don't want that."  
I thought about what he had just said.  
Why not?  
I had nothing left in Middle-Eearth. My father was dead and I had no true friend amongst my kin anymore.   
Why shouldn't I follow him?  
He was all I had.  
I smiled at him a little and entered the ship. "I will follow you everywhere, my dear friend. Even to a land which is full  
of Elves." With that I sighed dramatically.  
He laughed and for the first time in years I heared the carefree laughter he had had before the cry of the gulls.  
That was worse everything.  
  
The End 


End file.
